Fault Tolerance Techniques For Sram Based Fpgas

This book reviews fault-tolerance techniques for SRAM-based Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), outlining many methods for designing fault tolerance systems. Some of these are based on new fault-tolerant architecture, and others on protecting the high-level hardware description before synthesis in the FPGA. The text helps the reader choose the best techniques project-by-project, and to compare fault tolerant techniques for programmable logic applications.

This book describes fault tolerance techniques based on software and hardware to create hybrid techniques. They are able to reduce overall performance degradation and increase error detection when associated with applications implemented in embedded processors. Coverage begins with an extensive discussion of the current state-of-the-art in fault tolerance techniques. The authors then discuss the best trade-off between software-based and hardware-based techniques and introduce novel hybrid techniques. Proposed techniques increase existing fault detection rates up to 100%, while maintaining low performance overheads in area and application execution time.

Comprehensive coverage of all aspects of space application oriented fault tolerance techniques • Experienced expert author working on fault tolerance for Chinese space program for almost three decades • Initiatively provides a systematic texts for the cutting-edge fault tolerance techniques in spacecraft control computer, with emphasis on practical engineering knowledge • Presents fundamental and advanced theories and technologies in a logical and easy-to-understand manner • Beneficial to readers inside and outside the area of space applications

This book introduces the concepts of soft errors in FPGAs, as well as the motivation for using commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) FPGAs in mission-critical and remote applications, such as aerospace. The authors describe the effects of radiation in FPGAs, present a large set of soft-error mitigation techniques that can be applied in these circuits, as well as methods for qualifying these circuits under radiation. Coverage includes radiation effects in FPGAs, fault-tolerant techniques for FPGAs, use of COTS FPGAs in aerospace applications, experimental data of FPGAs under radiation, FPGA embedded processors under radiation and fault injection in FPGAs. Since dedicated parallel processing architectures such as GPUs have become more desirable in aerospace applications due to high computational power, GPU analysis under radiation is also discussed.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of the dependability challenges in today's advanced computing systems. It is an in-depth discussion of all the technological and design-level techniques that may be used to overcome these issues and analyzes various dependability-assessment methods. The impact of individual application scenarios on the definition of challenges and solutions is considered so that the designer can clearly assess the problems and adjust the solution based on the specifications in question. The book is composed of three sections, beginning with an introduction to current dependability challenges arising in complex computing systems implemented with nanoscale technologies, and of the effect of the application scenario. The second section details all the fault-tolerance techniques that are applicable in the manufacture of reliable advanced computing devices. Different levels, from technology-level fault avoidance to the use of error correcting codes and system-level checkpointing are introduced and explained as applicable to the different application scenario requirements. Finally the third section proposes a roadmap of future trends in and perspectives on the dependability and manufacturability of advanced computing systems from the special point of view of industrial stakeholders. Dependable Multicore Architectures at Nanoscale showcases the original ideas and concepts introduced into the field of nanoscale manufacturing and systems reliability over nearly four years of work within COST Action IC1103 MEDIAN, a think-tank with participants from 27 countries. Academic researchers and graduate students working in multi-core computer systems and their manufacture will find this book of interest as will industrial design and manufacturing engineers working in VLSI companies.

This book introduces the concept of approximate computing for software and hardware designs and its impact on the reliability of embedded systems. It presents approximate computing methods and proposes approximate fault tolerance techniques applied to programmable hardware and embedded software to provide reliability at low computational costs. The book also presents fault tolerance techniques based on approximate computing, thus presenting how approximate computing can be applied to safety-critical systems.

What is exactly “Safety”? A safety system should be defined as a system that will not endanger human life or the environment. A safety-critical system requires utmost care in their specification and design in order to avoid possible errors in their implementation that should result in unexpected system’s behavior during his operating “life”. An inappropriate method could lead to loss of life, and will almost certainly result in financial penalties in the long run, whether because of loss of business or because the imposition of fines. Risks of this kind are usually managed with the methods and tools of the “safety engineering”. A life-critical system is designed to 9 lose less than one life per billion (10 ). Nowadays, computers are used at least an order of magnitude more in safety-critical applications compared to two decades ago. Increasingly electronic devices are being used in applications where their correct operation is vital to ensure the safety of the human life and the environment. These application ranging from the anti-lock braking systems (ABS) in automobiles, to the fly-by-wire aircrafts, to biomedical supports to the human care. Therefore, it is vital that electronic designers be aware of the safety implications of the systems they develop. State of the art electronic systems are increasingly adopting progr- mable devices for electronic applications on earthling system. In particular, the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices are becoming very interesting due to their characteristics in terms of performance, dimensions and cost.

"This book provides a comprehensive collection of research on current technological developments and organizational perspectives on the scale of small and medium enterprises"--Provided by publisher.